2004 European Football Championship

The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly called '''Euro 2004''', was held in Portugal between 12 June and 4 July 2004 . The UEFA European Championship is a Quadrennial Football competition between national teams organised by UEFA , the sports governing body in Europe . This was the first time that the competition was held in Portugal . The tournament is unique in having the opening and closing matches featuring the same two nations.

Qualifying for Euro 2004 took place from September 2002 to November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups and each team played the others in their group twice, once at home and once away. The top teams automatically qualified for EURO 2004, and the ten group runners-up took part in play-offs to determine another five teams. Together with the host nation of Portugal, who did not need to go through the qualifying process (as is usual), 16 nations competed in Euro 2004.

The final was played on versus Greece . Greece won 1-0 with a single goal from a corner via Angelos Charisteas ' head in the 57th minute. The success of Greece, who had never won a single match in their previous appearances in any finals tournament, was totally unexpected ( Bloomberg reports that UK Bookmaker s gave them 100-1 odds at winning prior to the tournament), but their organisation, passing ability and solid defensive play took their opponents and the rest of the football world by surprise.

During the opening ceremony, the Portuguese portrayed a ship, symbolizing the trips of Vasco Da Gama . Such was the enthusiasm that overtook the Greek fans, that the ship became the symbol of the Greek victory, as Greeks where chanting for the ' Pirate Ship', as the Greek National Team was instantly named, into the early morning hours.

QUALIFYING

For details of qualifying matches check 2004 UEFA European Championship (qualifying) .

TEAMS

The participants in the Euro 2004 final tournament were:

SQUADS

For a list of all the squads that appeared in the final tournament see, 2004 European Football Championship (squads) .

STADIUMS

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(''stadium name, city – spectator capacity'')